Past bullies, present friends
by Edom56
Summary: The team meets some people from Reid’s high school the genius would have rather never seen again.


The team was all out together in a small town in Nevada. It was a bar with tables scattered around and a jukebox mostly loaded with show tunes. The case had ended with them catching a kidnapper before he could kill his victims; three women.

They should have flown home that night, but the jet had some mechanical problems that couldn't be fixed until the next morning, so they were stuck for another night.

They were all talking and laughing; it wasn't often they had a chance to just enjoy each other's company and relax after a case. They usually needed some time to process what had happened, but this time, things had ended how they always hoped they would.

Reid sat between Morgan and Garcia, who had come along for this trip, and he was feeling good when he heard a voice he had hoped to never hear again.

"Well, well, well, Spencer Reid. What are you doing in a bar? Are you even old enough yet?"

The entire table fell silent when Reid turned to look at the one speaking.

"John, it's been a long time."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here on business. What are you doing here?"

"I live here. So what is it that you do; you some kind of computer geek or something?"

"No, I work for the FBI, actually. My team and I were called in to help the local police with a case."

John hugged his wife a little closer to him and Reid turned to her and gave her a curt nod.

"So, you and Alexa are still together, I see. And Peter and Harper, too."

The other couple standing a little behind John and Alexa gave a small wave. Reid felt Morgan tense and move a little closer to him at the mention of those two particular names. He figured Morgan would remember the names of the two girls who set him up in high school. Reid turned to the team.

"Everybody, these are some old classmates of mine from high school. John Simmons, Alexa Lisbon, or Simmons now I suppose, and Peter and Harper Kraus, formerly Hillman."

"Hey."

All of them answered, but none of them looked all that friendly, a fact that John just now realized. He straightened up a little in order to look more intimidating, but Morgan just gave him a look that clearly stated that he wasn't intimidated in the least.

"I see you're not married yet; no ring."

Alexa sounded condescending and she gave Reid a once over before shrugging.

"Not that that's all that surprising."

Reid felt Morgan lay an arm around his shoulder and move even closer still.

"We haven't really come to that stage yet, but I'm sure we'll get to that at some point."

Morgan stared at John and Alexa, daring them to say any more things to try and put Reid down.

"Do you know what profilers do? We study human behavior and what I see are a former jock who hasn't really kept up with any kind of training and has gone soft because of it and a former prom queen who sees the years a little too clearly in the mirror in the morning. I see a marriage that's gone stale after all these years, and the only thing you still have in common is your feeling of superiority to anybody not popular in high school. This includes a twelve-year-old genius who could run circles around you intellectually but who wasn't strong physically, so you used that to torment him in school, and now, fifteen years later, you try to do it again. The sad thing is, Spencer can still run circles around you intellectually, but he is also not that weak twelve-year-old anymore."

Both of them sputtered and looked at their two companions, who had stayed out of it, but who looked very uncomfortable with the whole thing. John turned around, with Alexa still clutched to him, and they stalked off.

"I'm sorry about this, Spencer, I really am, and I'm sorry for the way we treated you back then."

Harper looked sincere and Peter nodded and gave his own apologies. Reid nodded and looked after them as they left. Then, he turned to Morgan, who looked apologetic.

"God, Reid, sorry about that. I have no idea why I let them believe that we're a couple, but they just pissed me off, as if being married is the only measure of success."

"It's ok, Morgan, I appreciate the help. To people like them, being single is a failure, which is probably why they are still together after all this time despite the fact they don't even like each other anymore."

"Oh, you noticed that, too. Damn, I think that was the closest they had been to each other for a very long time, all in an effort to look like a happy couple."

Emily scoffed and the rest of the team agreed with her. After that, they didn't talk about it anymore, but the mood had been dampened a little and they left to go back to the hotel.

When Reid had showered and changed into his sleep clothes, he heard a soft knock on his door. When he opened it, he saw Morgan standing there looking a little uncomfortable for some unfathomable reason. He stepped aside and gestured for Morgan to come in.

"What's up?"

Morgan looked like he wasn't sure his being there was such a good idea and he looked ready to bolt, but finally, he lifted his eyes to meet Reid's and spoke.

"I just wanted to make sure you were really ok with what I said at the bar."

"Look, Morgan, it's ok. It's not like they didn't already suspect anyway, and this just confirmed it for them."

Morgan's head snapped back to meet Reid's eyes again; he had been looking everywhere but at the man standing in front of him.

"What?"

Reid blushed crimson and started stammering until he took a deep breath, straightened up and lifted his head defiantly.

"I thought you had guessed and that's why you said it; it would be more believable than if any of the girls had pretended to be with me."

"You're gay?"

"Yeah, well, bisexual is maybe more accurate, but girls have always scared me and I tend to fall for more men than women."

Morgan gaped before reaching a hand out and gently stroking a finger down Reid's chin.

"Me too, but no, I never suspected. I guess my gaydar is faulty."

Reid was shocked to say the least.

"I would have never…but you always flirt with all the girls and I've never seen you even look at another man."

"I've only been interested in one man for the last many years; I just never had the guts to do anything about it. That's why I have one night stands with women, none of them are what I really want; I'm just trying to forget."

He shrugged, but Reid saw something else in his eyes, he just couldn't figure out what it was, it was gone too quickly.

"Who's the guy?"

"Isn't that obvious Pretty Boy?"

This time Reid did catch on to the expression and his eyes widened in surprise before he moved forward to kiss Morgan softly. It was nothing more than a quick brush of lips, but they both sucked in a breath and came together in a tight hug and a deep kiss that quickly turned wet and needy.

A while later, they lay next to each other on the rumpled sheets and Morgan leaned up on his elbow to look at Reid.

"Baby Boy, tell me we can do this again."

Reid gave him a blinding smile and leaned up to kiss him.

"As many times and as often as you'd like."

Morgan smiled back and lay back down, pulling Reid to him and closing his eyes. They slept like that, tangled in each other, and the next morning, Morgan hurried back to his own room before anyone could catch them.


End file.
